Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a liquid crystal display device and more particularly to a liquid crystal display device capable of suppressing light leakage and reducing torsion of a guide panel.
Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) device is a display device for displaying an image by controlling the transmissivity of light generated from a light source. In the LCD device, the light source is disposed under a liquid crystal and an electric field is applied to the liquid crystal to control alignment of the liquid crystal. The LCD device is included in various electronic devices such as a smartphone, and a tablet PC. A typical LCD device includes a backlight unit including a light source, a liquid crystal display panel disposed on the backlight unit, and a guide panel disposed to surround the backlight unit.
One example backlight unit includes a light emission assembly, a light guide plate, and an optical sheet. The optical sheet is disposed between the liquid crystal panel and the light guide plate. The light emission assembly is disposed on a lateral surface of the light guide plate. Thus, light is diffused through the light guide plate. A reflecting plate on a back surface of the light guide plate reflects incident light from the back surface of the light guide plate.
The guide panel surrounds the backlight unit. The guide panel reflects or absorbs light emitted from the light guide plate of the backlight unit to a lateral surface of the backlight unit and thus reduces the amount of emitted light. That is, the guide panel reduces light leakage from the backlight unit. Herein, the guide panel is manufactured using plastic which can reflect or absorb light. The guide panel supports the optical sheet, the light guide plate, the light emission assembly, and the reflecting plate and also guides the backlight unit onto the liquid crystal display panel.
Recently, liquid crystal display devices having increased degrees of freedom and including a narrow bezel have been designed. The narrow bezel is manufactured by forming an active area as wide as possible and a bezel area, which is an inactive area, as narrow as possible.
As the size of the bezel area is decreased, the thickness or width of the guide panel formed to surround a lateral surface and a lower part of the backlight unit is also decreased. In this case, due to the decrease in thickness of a lateral surface of the guide panel, the guide panel is likely to be bent after injection. That is, a guide panel that does not have a sufficient thickness is easily bent even by a small force and has greatly reduced stiffness.
Overall, present liquid crystal display devices include guide panels that are easily bent by a small force and that have insufficient stiffness.